The present invention relates generally to a baler for forming cylindrical bales of crop material, commonly referred to as a round baler, and more particularly to an improvement in a crop pickup apparatus for a round baler having lateral converging apparatus working in conjunction with a pickup that is wider than the bale forming chamber inlet.
Round balers rely on a pickup apparatus with a set of tines that engage a windrow of crop material on the ground and lift it upwardly and then urge it rearwardly to a transverse infeed opening into a bale-forming chamber. Pressure to increase efficiency in crop packaging operations has resulted in the prevalence of crop pickup units that are significantly wider than the bale forming chamber into which the crop material is fed. A wider pickup allows the baler to handle wider crop windrows and also results in better crop fill at the lateral ends of the resultant bale. Historically, wide pickups have incorporated augers situated at the outboard extremes of the pickup width to converge the crop laterally inwardly to achieve a width of the crop mat being fed into the bale chamber that is approximately the same as the chamber width. Longitudinal space in the pickup assembly for the converging augers generally requires an elongated feed table, increasing the distance the crop must travel between the pickup tines and the bale chamber inlet opening. A secondary feed mechanism, such as a stuffer or overshot feed rotor, positioned between the pickup tine reel and the bale chamber inlet is often necessary to convey the converged crop mat along the lengthened feed table and into the bale chamber.
Although quite effective, secondary feed mechanisms typically require further separation between the pickup tines and the bale chamber inlet opening. Lengthening the crop feed path between the pickup tine reel and the bale chamber inlet places greater reliance on the secondary feed mechanism and its crop movement efficiency.
It would be a great advantage to provide a secondary feed mechanism for use on a round baler having a pickup unit substantially wider than the bale forming chamber that minimizes the increase in the crop feed path length necessary to contain the secondary feed mechanism while providing a crop pick up assembly that efficiently conveys crop material from the ground to the bale-forming chamber with reduced incidence of clogging that overcomes the above problems and limitations.